ABSTRACT
The European countries, both individually and collectively, played a key part in the preparatory work for the Rio Summit, and in forging the final agreements made there. Countries of the European Union made a particular contribution as the largest grouping of developed countries in the world. Within the European Union, the main systematic machinery for following through the Agenda 21 programme lies in the Fifth Action Programme for the Environment adopted by the Union at the end of 1992. The European Environment Agency’s 1995 Report on Europe’s Environment provides a base-line picture of the state of Europe’s environment and the pressures on it. The vigorous pursuit of the Environment Programme for Europe, and its support by the major financial institutions of the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the European Commission, are therefore of crucial importance in the years ahead.
